424 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
it. I believe in you. To-morrow you will 
hear.” 
“ To-morrow ! ” lie looked at her ; his 
jaw firm ; his lips parted ; his eyes very 
eager and keen. “ To-morrow ? You have 
heard something. Lady Mildred. Someone 
has spoken to you ! ” 
“No one has spoken to me — no one at all.” 
She took quick refuge in the truth which kept 
truth back. “ 1 believe in you — that is all, 
Sir John — and here is the commandant.” 
They were in the station ; the train had 
jerked to a standstill. The commandant 
grasped the door-handle, turned it, and greeted 
his guest. 
“ Ah ! Lady Mildred ; this is good of you. 
Let me take your case — thank you — now ! ” 
But Lady Mildred Festing stepped back. 
“ After Sir John,” she said, smiling. 
“ Service of the King, Colonel Lightfoot. Sir 
John goes first ! ” 
“ By your permission — and wish, Lady 
Mildred. My thanks to you — we meet, 
then, this afternoon.” 
Sir John Dixon lifted his hat and went 
hurrying down the platform to his waiting trap. 
The commandant helped his guest from the 
train. Mistress, maid, luggage, and command- 
ant were embarked upon the waiting car. The 
chauffeur released his engines ; the car had 
run clear of the squalor, had left the barracks 
on its right, and was going up the road which 
faces the common to that Academy which 
men call the “ Shop.” The commandant was 
talking hard. 
“ Nice young fellows ; yes, very. Good 
cricketers, both of them. They’ll make good 
officers when we’ve licked them into shape 
a little — hey, Lady Mildred, what ? ” 
“ I’m glad you like them. Yes; I think 
they’ll do well.” 
But Lady Mildred spoke mechanically, a 
prey to disquiet and fear ; she was thinking of 
Sir John Dixon, trying her hardest not to 
think of him, and marvelling that she could not 
succeed. And as the car went in at the gates 
of the Academy her heart cried out these 
words : 
“ I am afraid of myself. 1 am afraid of him. 
I must not tell him of Omofaga — that he 
may not tempt me to be a fool ! ” 
The car drew up at the commandant’s 
quarters, and she got out in a waking dream. 
Her hostess greeted her ; she was taken 
through class-room and study, shown this and 
that relic, and heard anecdote upon anecdote. 
The commandant — they were sitting now 
in his study — suddenly rose. 
“ We must be going across now ; the 
inspection will be nearly over ; that is. Lady 
Mildred, if you would care to see them gallop 
past the base.” 
“ I should love to ! ” 
Lady Mildred smiled at him, and rose to her 
feet immediately. For she was, now, most 
confident in her strength. They left the 
building on foot, going towards an enclosure 
roped off on the common itself. The 
commandant led the way. 
“ It’s just worth seeing, Lady Mildred. 
It’s not a first-class affair — no field day — 
but the Duke has a foreign Prince in tow. And 
as you’ll meet him — the Prince — this afternoon 
it is perhaps as well that you should see what 
he has seen. Pie is difficult to talk to, they 
tell me. 1 am hoping for your help ! ” 
“ I shall be glad to give it,” she answered. 
“ I know the Prince. Pie is wrapped up in his 
profession, and he is anything; but a fool.” 
They entered the enclosure, an orderly 
before them making way for them to the 
four-wheeled wagon apportioned to them and 
reserved. Lady Mildred ascended the box- 
seat of it ; the commandant’s wife sat beside 
her ; the commandant and his daughter were 
in the body of the wagon ; and people in the 
enclosure — a strange medley — nudged one 
another and looked. 
Among them was a small woman in 
a bonnet and mantle ; characterfully- 
featured, very old-fashioned, eager-eyed, 
emotional, with nervous, quivering lips. 
She, more than anyone, looked at the great 
lady who had but now come into the 
enclosure. Then — as it seemed — curiosity 
conquering shyness — she addressed a major’s 
wife at her side. 
“ Could you tell me, please, who that lady 
is — that one on the wagon there ? Is she 
Lady Mildred Festing, do you know ? ” 
“ Yes,” said the major’s wife. She eyed 
the little woman curiously. “ Yes ; that is 
Lady Mildred Festing, as you say.” 
“ Thank you. I thought so. I have seen 
her photograph in the magazines.” And the 
little woman turned away. But presently 
she turned again and watched, eagerly, 
critically, the great lady on the box. 
The troops were drawn up in the distance : 
artillery, lancers, foot. Before them men on 
horseback— the foreign Prince, the English 
Duke, the Staff. The Duke said something 
to the Prince ; the Prince nodded ; the Duke 
spoke to an aide-de-camp ; there was an order , 
and the Staff wheeled, came cantering across 
towards the enclosure, coming nearer and 
more near. Then, wheeling, Duke and Prince 
and Staff faced round, took up position just 
